Every year at AISD there is a Halloween carnival hosted by the school, and it is the job of the grade 11s to host the haunted house. For 12 years I have been going to the Haunted House at the carnival.  So naturally, as soon as the Junior council asked for volunteers to help plan the haunted house I was the first to volunteer.

We had our first meeting around the middle of October. During that meeting, we were supposed to decide on our theme. We were stuck between two themes, a Haunted Circus and a Cursed Church. We ended up decided to do both themes. We planned to divide the gym in half and have each side have a different theme.

During our second meeting, we decided on the layout and where we wanted to put the dividers. We also decided on the decorations and what was going to be put where. Later that day I met with the decorating company that told them where we wanted the dividers and any other additional jobs we wanted them to do.

 

We had a third meeting, this time with the entire grade. During this meeting, we discussed who is going to play which characters in the haunted house. We also established who would be part of make-up and set-up and clean up.

With one week left before the Halloween carnival, the haunted house crew was in full swing. We day before the carnival I was running in and out of school and the shops, talking to the decorators and shops talking to decorators. That day was religious so a lot of people would not holiday before the carnival was a religious holiday, so a lot of people were not able to help that day. Luckily I had two other friends join me in my rush around Dhaka to find all the supplies we needed. We spent the rest of the night trying to make the props and arranging everything so that the next morning would go smoothly.

The day finally came. All the juniors got to school at 7AM to set up. several trips were made that day as well to buy a few more last-minute things. However, the grade managed to come together to decorate the haunted house. We split the grade in half, one side would work on the two themes of the haunted house. A smaller group formed to discuss prices and how the age groups that were allowed to go through.

After 4 hours of decorating the haunted house was done and it was really scary. The decorations were gourey  and the music playing in the background was very eerie. We spent the next few hours eating lunch and doing make-up.

At 1 the carnival started. At first, it was very slow. However, soon spread about how the good haunted house was and more people were lining up. Soon the entire area was filled with people that wanted to go through the haunted house

Long story short we the haunted house was very successful. It was the most attended booth of the fair and even the most successful haunted house AISD has had to date. We managed to raise around $1200. All the money went to the funds to host Prom 2020.

Being a part of the Haunted house crew I learned many lessons. I learned the importance of planning things ahead and avoiding doing everything at the last minute. Another lesson I also realized is the importance of staying calm and collected. In a moment where you feel nothing is going your way, lashing out at other people is not going to make the situation any better. Instead, it’s important to keep a cool head and talk to other people in a calm manner to solve any problems.